Rhetoric and Ethnography of Asian American Media Organizations
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship Repository MOBILIZING ―ASIAN AMERICAN‖: RHETORIC AND ETHNOGRAPHY OF ASIAN AMERICAN MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS BY VINCENT N. PHAM DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Communication in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2011 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Professor Kent A. Ono, Chair Associate Professor Cara A. Finnegan Associate Professor Phaedra C. Pezzullo, Indiana University Professor M. Scott Poole ABSTRACT Historically, Asian Americans have been seldom represented, or if so negatively, in the mainstream media and not through their own accord. As a result, popular images of emasculated or villainous Asian American males, submissive or sexually threatening Asian American females prevail as the most salient representations. However, Asian American media organizations have been formed to address the dearth of representation by producing their own media or confronting the Hollywood media industries. While the term ―Asian American‖ refers in large part to the people of Asian descent in the United States, what does it mean to be an ―Asian American‖ media organization and who is included as part of the community of people categorized as ―Asian American?‖ Through a multi-sited ethnography, this dissertation examines the rhetoric of three Asian American media organizations: the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM), the Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA), and the Foundation of Asian American Independent Media (FAAIM). These three organizations are dedicated to issues of Asian American media organizations. CAAM exhibits independent media through their annual film festival, funds films, and produces and distributes independent media for a national audience through their work with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. MANAA engages the Hollywood television and film studios to challenge the production of questionable media representations in mainstream media. FAAIM holds a grassroots Asian American film festival. By conducting participant observation research, this dissertation analyzes interviews, field notes, speeches, and textual and visual artifacts and reveals the multiple and complex modes by which these organizations mobilize a notion of ―Asian American.‖ This study of Asian American media organizations and its rhetoric offers an interdisciplinary perspective on the efforts to ii construct a pan-Asian American community within an increasingly diverse and changing Asian Pacific Islander American population. iii To my nieces and nephews. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge the assistance of the many people who have made this project possible. Although time and space do not allow for an individual ―thank you‖ to all involved, I hope that this short section will express my gratitude for all those who have accompanied me on this journey. First, I would like to thank the faculty and staff of the Department of Communication at University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign. Their support throughout my graduate school career helped make an incredibly difficult journey a bit easier to navigate. I would have never envisioned conducting a project on Asian Americans, rhetoric, and media organizations in the cornfields of the Midwest but the department‘s collective openness made it possible. Second, I would like to thank the Asian American Studies program and its Jeffrey Tanaka Research grant for providing financial assistance to conduct my research as well as a place to share my work. I am happy be a part of such an innovative and interdisciplinary community of scholars. Of course, this project would not be possible without the organizations: the Center for Asian American Media, the Media Action Network for Asian Americans, and the Foundation of Asian American Independent Media. These organizations do valuable, and sometimes unappreciated, work and deal with changing circumstances, fickle audiences, fluctuating resources in both human and financial ways. These organizations continued existence is a testament to their members‘ passion and dedication to changing how Asian Americans are perceived in the media. I would like to recognize the organizations and their members who have allowed me into their space, meetings, and events during the beginning of the project and through the end. The ethnographic content of the project was made possible by the leadership v and generosity of Chi-Hui Yang, Tim Hugh, and Phil Lee. Thank you for letting me take part in your organizational worlds and sharing your experiences. I would like to thank my doctoral committee, Dr. Kent A. Ono, Dr. Phaedra Pezzullo, Dr. Cara Finnegan, and Dr. M. Scott Poole who have provided me with the freedom, encouragement, and critical insights to make this dissertation a project that I consider my own. I am honored to have the opportunity to work with such amazing scholars who all exemplify what it means to be intellectually generous and charitable without compromising rigor. This project would not be possible without the support of my friends and family. To my friends, I apologize for my lack of presence and I appreciate all your patience, especially Yaejoon Kwon – you‘ve made the last two years of my doctorate a joyful rollercoaster. For their hospitality, I thank Justina Ashley, Melissa Hung, and Danielle Cloutier for sharing their homes with me for my visits. Without my family‘s support, encouragement, free meals, and a spare couch to sleep on, this academic journey would not have been possible. To my siblings – Hien for introducing me to the hobby of cycling, Linh for always having a dinner plate ready when I visit, Thuylinh for her ever exuberant smile and words of encouragements, and Thuy for providing me a refuge away from graduate school during some of the most trying summers of my life – I cannot express my gratitude enough in words so you will all have to settle for in- person hugs. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ACRONYMS ............................................................................................................... viii INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 1: FAAIM‘S DO-IT-YOURSELF ―ASIAN AMERICAN‖: RHETORICS OF RE- NATIONALIZATION AND ORGANIZATION ..............................................................43 CHAPTER 2: MANAA‘S STRATEGIC ESSENTIALISM AND MANAGEABILITY IN MEDIA ACTIVISM .........................................................................................................93 CHAPTER 3: ―MUTABLE‖ ASIAN AMERICAN AND ARTICULATING FESTIVITY: CAAM AND THE TACTICS OF FESTIVAL SPACE ................................................145 CONCLUSION: RE-ARTICULATING ASIAN AMERICAN ORGANIZING ........................207 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................................231 APPENDIX A: PHOTOGRAPH OF TIM HUGH‘S BOOKSHELF ........................................245 APPENDIX B: CALL FOR COMMUNITY SHORTS PROPOSAL NOTES ..........................246 APPENDIX C: ABRIDGED ―OPEN MEMO TO HOLLYWOOD‖ ..........................................252 APPENDIX D: LIST OF MANAA‘S PRESIDENTS ...............................................................253 APPENDIX E: TRANSCRIPT OF ―HOLLYWOOD VERSUS CAAM‖ FILM SHORT .........254 CURRICULUM VITAE ..............................................................................................................255 vii LIST OF ACRONYMS ACV Asian Cinevision CAAM Center for Asian American Media CPB Corporation for Public Broadcasting FAAIM Foundation of Asian American independent Media ITVS Independent Television Service MANAA Media Action Network for Asian Americans MC Minority Consortia NAATA National Asian American Telecommunications Association NPO non-profit organizations SAIC School of the Art Institute SDP Student Delegate Program VC Visual Communication viii INTRODUCTION In the spring of 2008, a coincidental overlap of business and pleasure worked in my favor, and I was able to attend the Chicago Asian American Showcase, the annual Asian American film festival organized by the Foundation of Asian American Independent Media (FAAIM). After presenting a paper, I made my way to the screening of the independent film maker Michael Kang's gritty crime drama West 32nd. Walking into the Gene Siskel film center on Chicago's well-known State Street directly across from the illuminated Chicago Theater, I proceeded through the red double doors, up the stairs, and encountered a bustling lobby full of people escaping the chilly April night and excited to see this new film. With a group of friends, we purchased tickets and waited in the lobby to enter the theater. The line stretched from the concession stand, around the corner, passing bathrooms on the side, and ending near the windows facing the street. The film screening was sold out; the audience was primarily Asian American, although there were other film enthusiasts, ranging in age from approximately late teens to the early 40s. As we walked through the doors and the hallway into the cinema space, there was a staircase on the other side leading to stadium style seating with plush red chairs. The cinema space itself was cozy and small, the chairs well-kept, and the floors free of dried soda. We took